Cuddle Buddies
by KitKatt0430
Summary: The best part about having a boyfriend was getting to cuddle with him. (Alternate Universe - No Powers)


Summary: The best part about having a boyfriend was getting to cuddle with him.

Notes: For the Roommates prompt :)

_**Cuddle Buddies**_

(one)

When Dante asks, Cisco says they're roommates. He panics because he's not out yet and, given some of the bi-phobic and pan-phobic things he's heard Dante say over the years... well, it's probably for the best.

And, technically, they are roommates. They live together, that is the very definition of being roommates. That's even how it all started off in college. A shared dorm and both Barry and Cisco were utter disasters. Somehow they managed to go three years before they started dating, they were just that oblivious to the mutual-ness of their feelings.

But Cisco still feels awful when Dante gets into the car, asks who Barry is, and Cisco says 'roommate' not 'boyfriend'. And its worse because Barry's face goes carefully flat. Which means he's upset but doesn't want to say anything.

After an awkward dinner and dropping Dante off at his hotel, Cisco stays parked in the visitor's lot even after Dante's gone inside. His vision's gone too blurry to drive because the moment the hotel door shut behind Dante, Cisco started crying.

"Shush, shush," Barry attempts to soothe. "Hey, Cisco, come here." He reaches over and wraps his arms around Cisco. "It's okay now. I've got you."

"I'm sorry." Cisco snuffled and buried his face against Barry's shoulder. "I'm getting your shirt all wet and snotty and I should have told him you're my boyfriend. I'm sorry."

"If you want to tell him, we still have the whole weekend to try again," Barry pointed out, sliding his fingers slowly through Cisco's hair.

Despite himself, Cisco found his anxiety lessening under Barry's ministrations. The tears slowly drying up. His eyes still felt achy though.

"I know you said you were going to tell him, but its okay if you don't. If you're not comfortable telling him, or don't feel safe telling him... he's your brother, Cisco, and you don't have to come out to him all at once if you're not ready for that." Barry kissed Cisco's forehead. "If you only tell him you're pan, I can wait for you to tell him we're dating for another time. No rush, alright."

"I just don't want you to think I'm ashamed of you," Cisco muttered, pulling back a ways and ducking his head uncertainly.

"I'd never think that," Barry assured him, cupping Cisco's face with his hands and gently brushing his thumbs along the tear tracks on Cisco's face.

"I'm not sure I can tell him yet. Any of it. And I hate... I hate that I'm so afraid of losing him because he's such a jerk anyway and..." Cisco crumpled back into Barry's embrace. "I just want him to accept me."

They stayed like that for a few minutes more, then each got out of the car and swapped seats so that Barry could drive them home.

(two)

The first person Barry came out to as asexual was Cisco Ramon. Someone he'd known for barely forty-eight hours at the time and he was going to have to live with. The moment the words, "well, bi and ace," slipped out of Barry's mouth, all casual sounding when this was actually a big fucking deal, Barry's brain went into overdrive wondering how he was going to walk that back if Cisco turned out to be less awesome than he seemed.

"The LGBT center at the student union has both your flags, so that's awesome," Cisco told him cheerfully, pointing to the two flags on the center's website. "We definitely have to head down there later and check it out."

So they did. And Barry was so pleased to have little bi and ace flags pinned to the wall over his bed in the dorm room. Cisco's pan flag adorned the opposite wall. And, for a while, everything was okay. But then Iris showed up for a surprise visit.

Barry didn't have time to hide the asexual flag. So Iris kept staring at it, an unreadable look on her face. When she left at the end of the day to catch the train back to Central, Iris hadn't said a single word about the ace flag on the wall. Just the aborted, "oh hey, you've got the... bi... flag up..." She'd been less stilted and awkward once Barry'd gotten her away from his dorm room, but... he'd still been relieved to watch her leave at the train station.

Cisco was the one who held Barry when he cried, nearly three weeks later, when he finally talked to Iris about his being ace. She'd apologized for how she'd reacted to seeing that flag and done her research and just wanted to be as supportive as possible. It had been a weight off of Barry's shoulders and the tears afterwards had more to do with happiness and catharsis than anything else.

It was only afterwards, curled up in Cisco's arms all warm and half-asleep, that it finally clicked that Barry had complicated feelings for this man. He wanted to be able to cuddle with Cisco whenever he wanted. He wanted to know what it was like to hold Cisco's hand out in public. He wanted to maybe even kiss the other man. (He wasn't too sure where he stood on kissing yet, but it seemed like, with Cisco, it might actually be nice. Maybe.)

Barry wanted to date Cisco. But there was no way the other man felt the same way, right?

But two years later they were sitting on Cisco's bed in a dorm room three buildings to the left and one floor down from that first dorm they'd shared. They were kissing for the first time and Barry's stomach was fluttering in a way he wasn't sure he liked yet, but Cisco's mouth was on his and that was kind of exhilarating in a good way that he hadn't expected. (Kissing Patty had been not so good, but she'd expected it and been very firm that dating couples had to kiss. When they'd broken up over Barry's refusal to have sex, he'd thought he'd never kiss anyone again and been relieved.) He'd even wanted to kiss Cisco, been the one to initiate their kiss...

"You're sure you're okay with this?" Cisco asked, pulling away to rest their foreheads together. "You don't have to kiss me if you don't like kissing, Bar."

"I'm still figuring this out," Barry admitted. "I think maybe sometimes I won't want to kiss, but right now its really nice. But, uh... cuddling is what I like best. I think I'm pretty much always okay cuddling with you."

"Then maybe a little more kissing before we cuddle and watch something on netflix?" Cisco grinned. "Because I always like cuddling with you too."

(Cisco always asked for permission before kissing Barry. And he never pushed when Barry said no.)

(three)

There's a puppy under the car and it cringes away from Barry, but he keeps talking. Voice low, nonthreatening, Barry tells the terrified little dog all about his date with Cisco the night before.

"We went to this new Italian place down the street from our apartment. Family restaurant where the mom's the chef and the dad is the maitre'd and one of the waiters was their eldest son. They were really good about my gluten allergy too. A lot of places cook their gluten free food on the same pans they use for the food that has gluten in it, but they took Cisco and me back to the kitchen to see they've got a whole separate prep area for the gluten free. One of their younger kids has a peanut allergy, so they want all their patrons to be able to feel comfortable knowing their food's being prepared in a way that's respectful of dietary restrictions no matter what the reason might be. So I'm pretty sure Cisco and I are going to be regulars there now. Walking distance, gluten free food, and the most amazing friendly service..."

The dog came snuffling closer. Still skittish, but curious about this loud human sitting beside the car.

"It was my birthday yesterday, which was why we were trying out some place new," Barry continued. "Nice candlelight dinner at the restaurant. No wine yet because we're both still only twenty... well he'll be twenty in a few weeks, anyway, but the point is, next year? Wine is totally going to be on the table. It'll probably be awful because neither of us know the first thing about wine, but as long as its sweet and fruity we'll never know the difference."

Closer still, the dog shuffled closer.

"When we got back home, we played Mario Kart. The N64 version, because it got re-released on the Wii-U and has the best battle mode. The actual Wii-U version's battle mode is really disappointing. Instead of having actual battle arenas, it just drops you on one of the racing lanes. And those are so long, how you're supposed to find anyone so that you're actually playing against the person in the room with you instead of the AI I have no idea. He's a lot better at it than I am, but Cisco let me win the first two rounds." Barry added, tone going faux conspiratorial, "don't let on that I know that though, or he'll get all flustered and... and maybe I should let him know. He's cute when he's flustered."

The dog slipped out from under the car and nudged at Barry's closest hand. Then the small dog - a terrier probably - watched warily as Barry carefully reached over to scritch the puppy's ears.

"The best part about having Cisco as my boyfriend, though, is getting to cuddle with him every night," Barry told the dog. "I like being the little spoon and, conveniently, Cisco like's being big spoon. I always feel really safe in his arms. It's the best feeling..."

"Hey Bar, who're you talking too... oh, puppy!" Cisco bounced like an excited puppy himself as he came over and settled beside Barry.

The tiny terrier watched Cisco with narrowed eyes and pulled back ears, but leaned into Barry's hand anyway.

Cisco's arms slipped around Barry's waist and his chin came to rest on Barry's shoulder. "So, you feel all safe when I hold you?" Cisco asked, all pleased and teasing.

"Very much," Barry agreed, smiling.

"We're keeping the dog, aren't we?"

"If no one claim's her... him? If no one claims the puppy, then I'd really, really like to," Barry answered.

"I guess we need to read up on our apartment's pet policy." Cisco hummed softly and inched a hand towards the puppy who, after a few moments hesitation, accepted Cisco's shoulder scritches and promptly melted to the ground. "Looks like you're not the only one who thinks I give good back massages."

"Magic engineer's hands," Barry agreed with a laugh.

(Four)

"So, where's that girlfriend you've been so evasive about," Joe asked when, after Barry walked into the house it was Cisco who followed him in.

"Ah... about that. I don't have a girlfriend," Barry said, reaching out and taking Cisco's hand. "I've got a boyfriend. You, um.. you remember Cisco, right?" Barry felt like his breath was caught in his throat. He'd been out as bi to Iris since high school, but had been putting off coming out to Joe for years. Sure, Joe was find with Captain Singh being gay, but that was different than being okay with someone being bi. A lot of people who weren't homophobic were still...

But Joe smiled. "It's good to see you again, Cisco." And from there dinner went fine.

Barry helped Joe wash the dishes later while Cisco and Iris and Eddie chatted in the other room, wanting to give him the chance to ask questions without an audience.

"So, which flag do I need for my 'proud father of my x son' t-shirt for June," Joe asked, grin on his face as he washed and Barry dried.

"Um... bi. And ace," Barry said, adding the last part hesitantly.

"Bisexual and asexual?" Joe sounded a touch confused, but at least he knew what ace meant.

"Biromantic and asexual," Barry corrected, a touch more confidently this time.

"Oh, right. Split attraction model. Now I know why Iris has been educating me on this stuff the last few years." Joe rolled his eyes. "She had me thinking she was an ace-spec identity there and laughed at me when I finally asked her."

Laughter bubbled out of Barry's throat and he had to go sit down for a moment until the giggles stopped. "My coming out to her was an accident and it didn't go well. Lots of staring and changing of the subject. I think she was trying to make up for that by paving the way with you."

Joe nodded. "Very Iris thing to do. I love you, Bar. No matter what. I'm serious about getting that 'proud of my bi ace son' t-shirt for Pride." He glanced into the other room. "I always liked Cisco. Glad I don't have to worry about your taste in men," he added with a dramatic sigh.

"Eddie's a great guy, you know."

"He's a cop," Joe grumbled.

"You're a cop."

"Exactly. I know what cops are like. My baby girl can do better."

"She doesn't want 'better'," Barry did the most dramatic air quotes he could manage. "She wants Eddie. So be nice." Barry shook his head when Joe sighed dramatically and agreed.

When they headed into the living room to rejoin the others, Barry settled beside Cisco and beamed as his boyfriend's arm automatically moved to curl around his waist, the touch supportive and warm.

(five)

Cisco's parents are silent for a long moment after Dante storms out the front door.

"I'm sorry, Paco," Cisco's mother finally says. "You shouldn't have had to hear Dante say those things. It's our fault. We should have taught him better than that."

"I thought we had," Cisco's father grumbles, crossing his arms. "Where'd he get the idea those were alright to say. Especially to his brother?"

"From the way you talk about trans people. From the way you ask if its really necessary to mention that a character on tv is gay," Cisco snapped. "From every casually queerphobic thing you've ever said in front of us and its been a lot. I wouldn't even known where to start counting."

Barry is holding Cisco's hand, a source of strength that keeps him from unraveling completely.

"Cisco..." his father said sharply, only to let out a little oof as Cisco's mother elbowed him.

"He's right," she said. "I'm sorry." She reached out to hold Cisco's free hand and he let her. "We taught Dante those prejudiced words and we taught you to be afraid of telling us who you are."

"We'll do better," Cisco's father promised.

Cisco just hoped it wouldn't be an empty promise as he leaned into Barry, letting his boyfriend's hand go in order to gain the warmth of Barry's arm around his shoulders.

(plus one)

Barry wakes up in Cisco's arms and its not the first time they did that. They've fallen asleep cuddling for comfort before. And it's always so nice to wake up to Cisco's face in the morning, eyes shut and face relaxed. A slight smile curling on his lips as whatever he dreamed about proved to be soothing and pleasant.

It was their first time waking up together as boyfriends, though, and Barry kisses Cisco's cheek as the other starts to stir.

Brown eyes flutter open sleepily and the smile on Cisco's grows. "Good morning Barry," he greets.

"Good morning, Cisco," Barry replies. "Neither of us have class until ten. And it's only eight. So we could just lay here until its time to get ready for class. If you want to."

"Well..." Cisco hums and tightens his arms around Barry. "Twist my arm why don't you?" He let out a happy sigh and let his eyes droop shut again. "This is so nice," he murmured against Barry's ear.

Barry smiles and starts stroking his fingers through Cisco's hair. He's not sure he's ever felt quite this content before. And he's pretty sure Cisco feels the same way.


End file.
